Lady Chiefs season ends on the road

Moses Lake MLHS Chiefs basketball

by Bob Kirkpatrick & Herald Sports Editor
| February 14, 2012 5:00 AM

WENATCHEE - Kylie Buterbaugh had 15 points and Michaela George added 12 to lead the Wenatchee Panthers to 45-31 home playoff win over Moses Lake Friday.

The first round loss bounced Moses Lake out of the CBBN 4A District 5/6 tournament to end the Chiefs season.

"I thought this was one of the girls best games of the season," coach Matt Strophy said. "They followed the game plan from the tip to the buzzer. We were able to take away Wenatchee's firt and second options most of the game, but unfortunately they hit their third option and made us pay for it."

The game was competitive through the first three quarter of actions as Wenatchee held a slim 14-12 lead at the end of the first eight minutes, and was up 21-15 at the break.

The Chiefs hung tough and were still in the game in the third quarter, down 30-24. But a 15-9 run in the fourth was their undoing as the Panthers won by 14 points.

"We had some breakdowns on offense and defense down the stretch," Strophy said. "Our Achilles heal all season has been our inside game and free throw shooting and they both came up and bit us this game.'

Moses Lake closed within five points a couple of times in the waning minutes, but had to foul the Panthers to try and save time on the clock. But Wenatchee was up to the task and took advantage of the situation by sinking their their shots from the charity stripe to pull out the win.

Sadie Nielsen scored eight points to lead the way for Moses Lake. Emily Olson added five, Madison Wilks, Avery Clark and Hailee Bishop chipped in three each, Courtney Kunjara, Selina Koon and Kaitlyn Stevens contributed two points each and Carina LeFave finished with one to round out the scoring for the Chiefs.

Despite going out on less than a positive note, Stophy said the future looks bright for the program.

"We are obviously disappointed with our win-loss record, because we know we were better than what we looked like on paper," he said. "But we have a number of girls coming back and we have a lot of talent from our JV and freshman team coming up, so I am really looking forward to next season."

The Chiefs Emily Olson was named to the Big Nine All-League honorable mention team.